Being Fit and Energy Consumption

We had a guy from the local Heating company over last week to look at our heat pump. We're considering getting it replaced with a more efficient (and quieter!) model at some point, and wanted him to evaluate our whole system and how it was working for the house. We did get some great information about new energy efficient models of heat pumps and air circulators, and we'll be putting that on the list of things we'd like to upgrade when time/money becomes available to do so (also on the list: solar panels, solar greenhouse, rainwater storage system... the list goes on).

The heating guy told us something interesting though, while he was here. We talked about our current heat pump usage and mentioned that we keep our thermostat set at 58 - 60 degrees and he said that we could only really do that because we are all very fit and healthy people in this family. Because we all exercise regularly, our metabolisms run at a fairly high rate, keeping us warmer than more sedentary humans. When we do something sedentary like watching a movie together in the evenings, we bundle under the blankets and keep warm that way.

It's always interesting to me how everything goes in circles. We eat healthy, which makes it possible for us to have lots of energy. Because we have lots of energy, we can lead very active lifestyles. Because we have sustainability as a goal, we tend to bicycle and walk a lot, and we garden and work outside as well. This in turn makes us healthier, more resistant to disease, and even allows us to keep our thermostat lower, which saves us money and furthers our goals of sustainability and using our resources wisely. It all comes around.

So here's to a daily walk or bike ride, keep those (internal human) fires burning!